Quotes about Curiosity

Jefferson Street at Halloween made a Grateful Dead concert look like a Quaker fish fry. I wanted to be the curious little cell that moves among all the other little cells and gets to know every last one of them.

Only the curious have something to find.

A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of its mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."

Fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it. As opposed to a curious person who explores first and then considers whether or not they want to accept the ramifications.

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

I am not myself; I am the potential of myself.

So as I thought about it, the most important "tool" you can have today in business is insatiable curiosity. The minute you lose it, you're dead.

When we stopped to rest and Tony tried to figure out what was wrong with his compass, I asked him what he thought it was about orchids that seduced humans so completely that they were compelled to steal them and worship them and try to breed new and specific kinds of them and then be willing to wait for nearly a decade for one of them to flower. 'Oh, mystery, beauty, unknowability, I suppose, ' he said, shrugging. 'Besides, I think the real reason is that life has no meaning. I mean, no obvious meaning. You wake up, you go to work, you do stuff. I think everybody's always looking for something a little unusual that can preoccupy them and help pass the time.'

Those who see what's obvious aren't necessarily brighter than others.  They're just more likely to observe that the emperor is naked.  Like children, they see what's actually there.  Their perceptions are less clouded by belief systems, taboos, habits of thought.  One responsibility of management---an important one---is to call attention to the invisible obvious, pointing it out as a child does (sometimes to the embarrassment of adults).  Doing so also requires supporting employees who take that risk, too, and other risks as well.

The best ideas aren't hidden in shadowy recesses.  They're right in front of us, hidden in plain sight.  Innovation seldom depends on discovering obscure or subtle elements but in seeing the obvious with fresh eyes.  This is easier said than done because nothing is as hard to see as what's right before our eyes.  We overlook what we take for granted.  Billions of tea drinkers observed the force of steam escaping from water boiling in a kettle before James Watt realized that this vapor could be converted into energy.

We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of the development of the human mind, of intelligent life--we have years and years in the future.  It is our responsibility not to give the answer today as to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and to say: "This is a solution to it all."  Because we will be chained then to the limits of our present imagination.  We will only be able to do those things that we think today are the things to do.  Whereas, if we leave always some room for doubt, some room for discussion, and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will not arise.

To decide upon the answer is not scientific.  In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar---ajar only.

...it's the process of losing oneself in the jungle that makes science worth doing.

It boils down to studenthood-in-perpetuity / curiosity-in-perpetuity / applied fanatic restlessness. That is, a belief that life is . . . ONE BIG LEARNING EXPERIENCE. Something mysterious happens to a curious, fully engaged mind -- and it happens as often as not, subconsciously. Strange little sparks are set off, connections made, insights triggered. The results: an exponentially increased ability to tune up / reinvent / WOW-ize today's project at work.

Winston Churchill said that appetite was the most important thing about education. Leadership guru Warren Bennis says he wants to be remembered as 'curious to the end.' David Ogilvy contends that the greatest ad copywriters are marked by an insatiable curiosity 'about every subject under the sun.'

The window offered an antidote: the comforting view of a quiet street.  I reached out to hold this sight but instead touched glass, felt its faint chill.  I pressed harder at the window.  If something so solid could be so easy to see through, I thought, then why weren't people the same way, open to any search, available to anyone's curiosity?

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

What we do, if we are successful, is to stir interest in the matter at hand, awaken enthusiasm for it, arouse a curiosity, kindle a feeling, fire up the imagination.

History's villains are more easily recognized in retrospect. In an article published in 1935 and reprinted in 1937, Winston Churchill expressed a curious ambivalence towards the German chancellor prior to the outbreak of war: We cannot tell whether Hitler will be the man who will once again let loose upon the world another war in which civilization will irretrievably succumb, or whether he will go down in history as the man who restored honour and peace of mind to the great Germanic nation. . . .

I have seen A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Of inland ground, applying to his ear The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; To which, in silence hushed, his very soul listened intensely; for from within were heard Murmurings whereby the monitor expressed Mysterious union with its native sea. Even such a shell the universe itself Is to the ear of faith; and there are times, I doubt not, when to you it doth impart Authentic tidings of invisible things, Of ebb and flow, and ever enduring power, And central peace, subsisting at the heart Of endless Agitation.

Busy, curious, thirsty fly, Drink with me, and drink as I.

There are those much more rare people who never lose their curiosity, their almost childlike wonder at the world; those people who continue to learn and to grow intellectually until the day they die. And these usually are the people who make contributions, who leave some part of the world a little better off than it was before they entered it.

Truths For Living The more generous we are, the more joyous we become. The more cooperative we are, the more valuable we become. The more enthusiastic we are, the more productive we become. The more serving we are, the more prosperous we become. The more outgoing we are, the more helpful we become. The more curious we are, the more creative we become. The more patient we are, the more understanding we become. The more persistent we are, the more successful we become.

Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.

A man practices the art of adventure when he heroically faces up to life; When he has the daring to open doors to new experiences and to step boldly forth to explore strange horizons. When he is unafraid of new ideas, new theories and new philosophies. When he has the curiosity to experiment--to test and try new ways of living and thinking. When he has the flexibility to adjust and adapt himself to the changing patterns of life. When he refuses to seek safe places and easy tasks and has, instead, the courage to wrestle with the toughest problems. When he has the moral stamina to be steadfast in the support of those men in whom he has faith and those causes in which he believes. When he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints. When he has the nerve to move out of life's shallows and venture forth into the deep. When he keeps his heart young, his expectations high and never allows his dreams to die. When he concludes that a rut is only another name for the grave and that the only way to stay out of the ruts is by living adventurously and staying vitally alive every day of his life.

Somehow I can't believe there are many heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret can be summarized in four C's. They are: curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, curiosity to learn, joy in learning.

Hack fiction exploits curiosity without really satisfying it or making connections between it and anything else in the world.